John Cena
Jonathan Felix-Anthony Cena ''' (born April 23, 1977 in West Newbury, Massachusetts), better known to his fans simply as '''John Cena, is an American professional wrestler and rap music artist, currently performing for World Wrestling Entertainment on the RAW brand. He is the current WWE Champion, a belt which was exclusive to the SmackDown! brand between August 26, 2002 and June 5, 2005 and became exclusive to the RAW brand on June 6, 2005 when Cena was drafted to RAW during the 2005 Draft Lottery. He is also a popular rap artist in his own right, releasing two music cds and performing in live concert with Tha Trademarc and Bumpy Knuckles. Career Cena attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he earned a degree in exercise physiology (Springfield College has nationally renowned health and physical fitness programs). At Springfield, Cena played varsity football; he was a team captain and earned All-American honors. After moving to California to work at Gold's Gym, Cena enrolled in a wrestling school run by Ultimate Pro Wrestling and started wrestling there under the ring name Whiteboy Reggie. UPW had a working relationship with WWE, which soon took notice of Cena, signing him to a developmental contract and sending him to developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling for further seasoning. While at OVW, he also appeared as a hunter on the UPN television show Manhunt, which WWE initially had a role in producing. He made his debut with WWE in 2002. Ruthless Aggression Cena's first televised WWE match was against Kurt Angle on June 27, 2002. Angle was giving free shots at himself to newcomers, something he still does from time to time, and Cena had been inspired by Vince McMahon's recent, somewhat inscrutable, speech to WWE's rising stars, exhorting them to show "ruthless aggression" and they would have a place among the legends. He almost beat Kurt Angle, surviving the Angle slam and kicking out of the ankle lock submission hold, but ultimately losing to a hard amateur-style pin. Word Life Cena was a typical face, which at first did not get much reaction from the fans; however, after an episode of SmackDown! where he performed a freestyle, his gimmick was changed to that of a white rapper. This gimmick at first got him a lot of heel heat from the fans, but he was later being cheered by them due to the freestyle raps he made on other wrestlers. During his run as a heel, Cena feuded with the Undertaker and Chris Benoit, and aligned himself with the Full Blooded Italians. One of Cena's symbols was a modified classic WWF logo (the double-W's only) with the slogan "Word Life." Initially, Cena also feuded with Brock Lesnar. During that feud, he derived his signature finishing maneuver, the F-U (a modified Death Valley Driver), as a counterpart to Lesnar's similar F-5 move. When Lesnar turned heel, they briefly joined forces. However, in the face of his growing popularity, Cena eventually turned face, betraying Lesnar and feuding with him again. Cena established his signature "You can't see me" catch phrase and hand gesture during this time as well. In a 2003 Survivor Series match, he was on a team led by Kurt Angle with Benoit, Bradshaw (before his heel turn) and Hardcore Holly against Lesnar, The Big Show, Nathan Jones, Matt Morgan and A-Train. In the end Cena hit the F-U on The Big Show and got the final pin, leaving him and Benoit as the sole survivors. The two superstars ended their feud there, though they would fight each other during Cena's run for the WWE United States Championship. United States champion In 2004, Cena's popularity was increasing. He feuded with The Big Show, leading to a WrestleMania XX victory to win the WWE United States Championship, his first WWE title. Eventually he was stripped of the title by then-SmackDown! General Manager Kurt Angle. Cena later won the title back after winning a best-of-5 match series with Booker T. His second title reign was short-lived as he lost the title to newcomer Carlito Caribbean Cool in Cena's first televised match since regaining the title. The match was also Carlito's WWE debut. As part of an angle, Cena was allegedly attacked in a Boston nightclub by Carlito's bodyguard, Jesus, which kept Cena from wrestling for about a month because of a kidney puncture (in actuality, Cena was filming "The Marine"). He returned to wrestling just in time for Survivor Series. When he returned, he exacted revenge on Carlito in a SmackDown! match and won the U.S. title back but was attacked afterward in the ring by Jesus, who hit Cena in the kidney several times with Cena's own chain. Cena's United States title reigns were notable for two reasons. His second title reign came after a best-of-5 series of matches, a series of matches similar to the one wrestled by Booker T and Chris Benoit for the World Television Championship in WCW. In addition, Cena wore a modified United States title belt during his third reign as champion. The new belt featured the same colors, but with the face plate fashioned as a turntable. First WWE Championship reign At the 2005 Royal Rumble, Cena and Batista both went over the top rope at the same time to end the match, but Vince McMahon demanded the match go into sudden death. Cena had Batista in the F-U, but Batista reversed it to win the match. Shortly after, Cena competed in a tournament to become the #1 contender for the WWE Championship, and won the tournament by defeating Kurt Angle at No Way Out. In the weeks leading up to WrestleMania 21, where Cena was to face JBL, he lost his United States Championship to JBL's Chief of Staff, Orlando Jordan, with he and JBL blowing up the spinner-style belt the following week. During this feud with JBL, Cena established a name for his fans: the "Chain Gang Soldiers" (often shorted to just "Chain Gang"). On April 3, 2005 at WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles, Cena defeated JBL to win his first WWE Championship. He then had a custom WWE Championship belt made, just as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin had done with his "smoking skull" belt. Cena's WWE Championship belt is similar to his custom U.S. title belt, featuring a spinner-type WWE logo plate. In the meanwhile, JBL stole the original WWE belt and claimed he was still WWE Champion. At Judgment Day, Cena successfully defended his title against JBL in a bloody "I Quit" Match. JBL, cornered against a glass pane, quit to avoid getting hit by a tractor trailer's exhaust pipe. He got hit anyway, sending him through the glass pane behind him. Cena was able to reclaim the real WWE Championship belt, though he still carried around his spinner belt. Drafted to RAW On the June 6, 2005 episode of RAW, John Cena became the first drafted in the annual WWE Draft Lottery, with Eric Bischoff drafting him from SmackDown! to RAW. Upon entering RAW, Cena immediately entered an angle with Chris Jericho and Christian. The rivalry between Christian and Cena had already been established when Christian attacked Cena on the Jericho's Highlight Reel, while Cena's rivalry with Jericho started when Jericho turned on Cena in a tag-team match against Christian and Tyson Tomko. Cena defeated Christian and Chris Jericho in a Triple Threat match at WWE Vengeance by knocking Jericho out of the ring and pinning Christian. On the June 27 edition of RAW, Cena teamed with Shawn Michaels and a returning Hulk Hogan for the first time to beat Jericho, Christian and Tyson Tomko. Feud with Bischoff Cena quickly made enemies with RAW GM Eric Bischoff, delivering the F-U to Bischoff on the July 11, 2005 edition of RAW. Bischoff vowed to make Cena's stint on RAW difficult and chose Chris Jericho to contend for Cena's title. On July 25, 2005 Cena and Jericho competed in the first ever battle of the bands on RAW. The battle featured Cena's Chain Gang against Jericho's Fozzy. Cena performed but Jericho refused, claiming the audience was biased against him and that Fozzy would not perform until the upcoming SummerSlam 2005 pay-per-view. After a successful title defense against his rival Carlito, Cena also successfully defended his title against Chris Jericho at SummerSlam 2005. On August 22, 2005 in Hampton, Virginia, Cena beat Jericho in a "You're Fired" match for the WWE Championship despite the General Manager giving Cena a low-blow and also handing a pair of brass knuckles to Jericho. After the match, Kurt Angle came into the ring and attacked Cena while Eric Bischoff revealed that Angle was the number one contender for Cena's world title. After several weeks of feuding, both men faced off in the main event of Unforgiven 2005, where Cena lost to Angle by disqualification after hitting Angle with the WWE title belt, meaning Cena would still be champion. At Taboo Tuesday 2005, Cena again successfully retained his WWE Championship in a Triple Threat match against Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels by pinning Michaels. On the November 14, 2005 edition of RAW, Cena paid tribute to Eddie Guerrero, who had recently passed away. After a main event match with Randy Orton that had Cena delivering the F-U to Orton, Cena took off the Eddie Guerrero "I'm Your Papi" T-shirt he had worn during the match in Eddie's honour. He laid it down on the mat and placed his championship belt on top of it, honouring Guerrero, who was a former WWE Champion. At the [[Survivor Series#2005|2005 Survivor Series]], Cena successfully defended the WWE Championship against Kurt Angle. On the December 5, 2005 episode of RAW, Cena made his opinion of Bischoff known during Bischoff's mock trial and helped Vince McMahon fire Bischoff by delivering the F-U to the former RAW GM, effectively ending the hostilities he had with Bischoff and giving Cena the last laugh. Losing the WWE Championship On January 8, 2006, at New Year's Revolution, Cena successfully defended his WWE Championship in an Elimination Chamber match. John Cena had to face Kane, Kurt Angle, Carlito, Chris Masters and Shawn Michaels. However, after the match, Vince McMahon came onto the stage and announced that Cena was going to defend the WWE Championship against Edge, who was cashing in his previously earned Money in the Bank title shot. Edge quickly delivered two spears to Cena, pinning him to win the WWE Championship and to end Cena's reign as WWE Champion at 280 days, matching that of previous champion JBL. Second WWE Championship reign On January 29, 2006, Cena defeated Edge at the 2006 Royal Rumble to regain the WWE Championship, three weeks to the day he lost it. On February 20, 2006, Triple H defeated Rob Van Dam (RVD) and Big Show to win the [[Road to WrestleMania Tournament|Road to WrestleMania '' tournament]], which in turn gave him a title shot at Cena's WWE Championship at ''WrestleMania 22. On the February 27, 2006 edition of RAW, Triple H and John Cena went face-to-face verbal confrontation in the middle of the ring. Triple H accused Cena several times of lacking in-ring ability, saying, "Well, excuse me if I'm not afraid of the guy whose one big move is pumpin' up his Reeboks." Cena went on to retain the WWE title at WrestleMania. Cena joined Hulk Hogan, Triple H, Diesel, Eddie Guerrero, and Yokozuna as the only men to retain the WWE Title at WrestleMania. (Yokozuna retained against Lex Luger at WrestleMania X, but lost the title to Bret Hart in the main event of the show.) On the April 3, 2006 edition of RAW, Cena again came out to a mixed reaction from the fans, which he commented on. Later in the night Cena was defeated in a handicap match against Triple H and Edge. After the show ended, Cena thanked the fans, whether they were cheering for him or cheering because he had just taken a considerable beating. Despite his positive words, he still received a substantial amount of jeering, though less than what he had received during the show. On April 30, 2006 at Backlash, Cena successfully defended his WWE Championship title in a Triple Threat match against Triple H and Edge, despite interference from Lita. Cena again successfully defended his WWE Championship the following night on RAW against Kenny of the The Spirit Squad, despite having Triple H as the special guest referee. After Triple H left Cena at the mercy of The Spirit Squad, Shawn Michaels came down to the ring as a referee to help Cena pick up the win. According to WWE.com, Vince McMahon declared that Cena would defend the WWE title against Triple H on the May 9, 2006 edition of RAW. However, McMahon went back on his word during the start of the show and put Cena, along with Shawn Michaels, in a handicap match against The Spirit Squad. McMahon then gave Triple H "the night off." Triple H emerged regardless at the end of the match (which The Spirit Squad won) and pedigreed Cena. On the May 15, 2006 edition of RAW, Cena teamed with Rob Van Dam to defend his WWE Championship along with RVD's Intercontinental Championship in the first ever two-on-three Texas Tornado dual-title match against Triple H, Shelton Benjamin and Chris Masters, with the first cover winning or defending the respective title. The match ended when Benjamin pinned RVD to reclaim the IC title, allowing Cena to retain. On the May 22, 2006 edition of RAW, Cena defeated Chris Masters by submission. Afterwards, Rob Van Dam informed Cena that he will be cashing in his Money in the Bank contract at ECW One Night Stand in order to challenge Cena for the WWE Championship. Outside of wrestling Music/Movies Cena has cut a series of rap music tracks. His fifth WWE entrance song, "Basic Thugonomics" was featured on the WWE soundtrack album WWE Originals. His track "Untouchables" was featured on Theme Addict, another WWE soundtrack album. His debut album You Can't See Me features his current entrance theme "My Time is Now". The first single off the album was "Bad, Bad Man". The music video for the song, a parody of 1980s culture and the television show The A-Team, premiered on an edition of SmackDown. WWE premiered the music video for Cena's second single, "Right Now", on the August 8 edition of RAW. John Cena's first major movie role will be in the 2006 film The Marine, to be produced by WWE Films. Fashion Cena's ring attire in and out of the ring reflects the old school hip hop culture that his character represents. He previously wore throwback sports jerseys (during his time as heel, he would wear jerseys of a rival team of the city he was wrestling in; as a good guy, he would wear jerseys of one of the city's home teams), though he now generally wears "Chain Gang" related merchandise. Cena has also made use of the retro WWF logo, but without the F, adopting it as his "Word Life" symbol. He has also worn a chain with a lock on it to the ring and the chain was sometime utilized as a weapon. When Cena was part of the SmackDown! brand, his apparel bearing the suggestive spoonerism "R'uck '''F'ules" was censored when he wore it on camera. However, this was not censored by UPN, but by WWE to sell more shirts under the premise that it was "too hot for TV." TV Guest Appearances Cena appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on July 23, 2005 in order to promote his CD, WWE, and SummerSlam 2005. He has also been on Fuse's Daily Download. Cena has recently appeared on FOX Sports Net's Best Damn Sports Show Period. Trademarks Signature maneuvers and weapons *[[Professional wrestling throws#Death Valley driver|'''F-U (Death Valley Driver variation)]] *''Five-Knuckle Shuffle'' (Augmented fist drop) *''Throwback'' (Modified flip over neckbreaker/facebuster) *''Freestyle / Protobomb'' (Spin-out sideslam) *Flying shoulderblock *Steel chain *Brass knuckles *Spinout Powerbomb Quotes *"Word Life!" *"You can't see me!" *"The champ is here!" *"If you want some, come get some!" *"Chain Gang in Da House!" *"Because this ... is what ... we do!" *"Real... recognizes Real!" *"Word to yo Mutha!" *"Stop...Cena Time" *"Kill Whitey!" Previous Managers *Kenny Bolin (in OVW) Championships and accomplishments World Wrestling Entertainment *2-time WWE Champion (current) *3-time WWE United States Champion Ohio Valley Wrestling *1-time OVW Heavyweight Champion *1-time OVW Southern Tag Team Champion (with Rico Constantino) Ultimate Pro Wrestling *1-time UPW Champion Pro Wrestling Illustrated *PWI Most Improved Wrestler Award (2003) *PWI Most Popular Wrestler Award (2004) {| border="1" |- |colspan="3" align="center"|'WWE Championship Reigns' |- | width="30%" align="center" | Preceded by: John "Bradshaw" Layfield | width="40%" align="center" | First | width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by: Edge |- | width="30%" align="center" | Preceded by: Edge | width="40%" align="center" | Second | width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by: Current |-} External links *Wrestling Update's John Cena biography *Cena Style